§ Mr. Jim CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what funds have been made available for the west midlands to support(a) dancing, (b) singing and (c) acting through the regional arts board; and what plans she has to increase funding for these purposes. [3932]
§ Tessa Jowell[holding answer 17 July 2001]: The table shows expenditure through grant-in-aid and the Regional Arts Lottery Programme (RALP) for all artforms by West Midlands Arts which is the main funding body for the arts in the region for the last financial year, 2000–01. The Arts Council of England separately funds Birmingham Royal Ballet (£5,650,087) and the Royal Shakespeare Company (£9,160,300).
Alterations to the amounts already given to dancing, singing and acting is a matter for West Midlands Arts.
Artform Treasury RALP Total Crafts 134,120 25,699 159,819 Dance 672,775 261,087 933,862 Drama/Theatre/Mime 2,586,765 255,660 2,842,425 Film, Video and Broadcast 244,306 64,398 308,704 Literature 166,079 89,032 255,111 Mixed Media 138,475 — 138,475 Combined Arts 1,572,552 273,584 1,846,136 Music 1,958,030 110,231 2,068,261 Non-artform 800,849 — 800,849 Photography 113,534 — 113,534 Visual Arts 1,441,982 540,413 1,982,395 Grand Total 9,829,467 1,620,104 11,449,571 (a) Dancing may be included within Dance, Drama/Theatre or Combined Arts.
(b) Singing may be included within Music or Combined Arts. Not all music is singing.
(c) Acting may be included within Drama/Theatre/Mime, Combined Arts or Film, Video and Broadcast.